New Delhi: Retail prices of petrol and diesel breached record levels on Friday with Oil Marketing Companies raising rates by 48 paise per litre and 52 paise per litre for the two automobile fuels in the national capital.

Post the price hike, non-branded petrol was priced at Rs 79.99 per litre in Delhi while diesel costs Rs 72.07 per litre – the highest ever prices recorded in the country’s history.

Since 1 August, petrol prices have risen by Rs 3.68 per litre. Diesel prices on the other hand have risen by Rs 4.25 a litre during this period.

Diesel rates had hit Rs 69.31 a litre on May 28, but this record was breached on August 27, since then diesel prices have been recording a fresh high every day in the national capital and across the country.

The consistent hike in fuel prices has led the opposition parties to blame the Modi government for mismanagement. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley earlier this week remained non-committal on cutting excise duty to cushion spiralling petrol and diesel prices saying international oil prices are volatile and have not shown any linear movement.

Petrol prices were increased to Rs 87.39, Rs 86.41 and Rs 83.13 per litre in Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai respectively on Thursday.

Diesel prices in the three cities were also raised today to Rs 76.51, Rs 74.92 and Rs 76.17 per litre, respectively.

The spike in rates is on account of exchange rate falling to a record Rs 71 to a dollar, depreciating by Rs 2.5 in a month. Also, crude oil prices have gained $7 a barrel in a fortnight.